Billionaire Gautam Adani surpassed French Bernard Arnault on the Forbes list, becoming the second richest man in the world.
Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, on Friday, overtook LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault to become the second richest man in the world with a net worth of $155.5 billion in real-time data from Forbes, up from $5.2 billion. Arnault, whose net worth is millions behind Adani, has dropped to #3.
Adani has also overtaken Amazon Chairman and Founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune has shrunk by $2.3 billion, or 1.53%, to $0.7 billion.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $273.5 billion.
Adani owns shares in six public companies involved in ports, airports, green energy, data centers, and more. Adani became Asia’s richest man in February this year when he overtook his Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose current net worth of $91.9 billion ranks him 8th in the world.
Shares in Adani conglomerate Adani Enterprises are rising, hitting an all-time high of Rs 3,300 ($15) per share yesterday, more than double a year ago. Shares in its Adani Power tripled last year to Rs.0.4 ($4.9) on rising demand for electricity. Renewable energy company Adani Green Energy also nearly doubled its stake last year to Rs 2,300.14 ($46.2).
Gautam Adani’s group has completed the acquisition of India’s leading cement producers Ambuja Cements and ACC. The group is now the second largest cement producer in the country. Holcim completed the deal with Adani Grup on Friday by selling its entire stake in Ambuja Cements at Rs 385 per share and in ACC at Rs 2,300 per share. Total cash proceeds for Holcim were US$6.4 billion.
In a statement, Switzerland-based Holcim announced that the group has completed the sale of its India business to the Adani Group, which includes all of its interests in Ambuja Cements at a share price of ₹385 and in ACC at a share price of ₹385 stock price includes. of ₹2,300, resulting in cash revenues of US$6.4 billion for Holcim.
Last month, Adani’s media department made a hostile takeover bid for New Delhi Television (NDTV), a broadcaster seen as anti-government. Adani Group’s AMG Media Networks (AMNL) bought Vishvapradhan Commercial for Rs.1.5 billion (US$10.3 million). , giving him a 46.2% stake in NDTV.
Renewable energy is another big topic: Adani’s energy supplier Adani New Industries has announced plans to invest more than 300 billion US dollars in green energy development over the next 10 years.